Boys Bowling: Five area teams qualify for state finals

ORLAND PARK - Six team qualifying spots were on the line Saturday in the sectional at Orland Bowl. Sixteen teams qualified from last week’s four regionals as the pressure built in this highly competitive state qualifier.

Sandburg and Lincoln-Way West were the models of consistency, as they held the top two spots throughout the day as Sandburg came away with the sectional title with a six-game total of 6,515, followed by West (6,318).

Minooka finished third (6,198), Lincoln-Way Central fourth (6,149) with Lockport the big mover of the day, as they went from 14th place after the second game to a fifth-place (6,079) overall finish. The Porters made their big move in game four, moving from 12th to fifth. Joliet West grinded out a tough sixth game to hold off Richards and grab the final qualifying spot.

The area also had two individual qualifiers as sophomore Jacob Chavez from Plainfield Central finished third overall and rolled a 1,428 and Trevor Anifer, a Lemont sophomore, placed fourth with a 1,412.

Other top overall finishers were Ryan Marszalek of Lincoln-Way Central in sixth, Efrain Soto from Minooka in ninth, Aiden Healy in 10th and Jacob Schram 13th, both from Lincoln-Way West.

St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon will host next week’s IHSA state finals starting on Friday.

“I knew this team could get it done,” Lincoln-Way West coach Scott Jablonski said. “Our goal and theme was ‘Strive For Five’ for making it to state five consecutive years and that was achieved with only two seniors and such a great chemistry on this team. Sandburg bowled well and we knew they would be tough in their home house and I’m so proud of our team and now anything can happen.”

Minooka coach Derrick Rapsky, knows there is more in his team and it all starts over next week.

“We expected a little more today and we usually bowl well here, but in the end, the scores from this week don’t count moving forward,” Rapsky said. “Most of our team has been to state before, so they know what to expect. We’ve had success, there are still some things we need to work on, but we will be ready.”

“We were pretty nervous at the break, but we got better each game after the break and this team did what it needed,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Coley O’Connell said.

The theme of the day for the qualifying teams was survive and advance and that was not truer than for the Porters.

Lockport’s big move was a lane change according to coach Ron Davis.

“The difference from the morning to afternoon was the lane change for us,” Davis said. “We couldn’t do anything and our adjustments didn’t matter in the morning. Then we changed lanes and the big fourth game of 1,152 was our second-best game of the year. Anything can happen when you reach the finals and this was a very tough sectional, so all of our teams will be ready.”

Providence Catholic finished eighth (5,854) and Plainfield Central was 15th.

The morning session was highlighted by a 300 game from Lincoln-Way East junior Caden Genet. It was his first perfect game of his life and was experiencing all the nerves one would expect.

“It was super nerve-wracking,” Genet said. “I could feel everyone watching me and I actually had a hard time throwing the ball. Around the fourth frame I knew I was in a groove and was rolling the ball well, but everything really hit me in the eighth frame and that was when I started shaking some.”